Box wrapper



Feb. 18, 1964 P. L. v. MONOT 3,121,524

BOX WRAPPER Filed May 5. 1961 \INVENTOR PIERRE LOUIS VICTOR MONOT ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,121,524 Patented Feb. 18, 1964 3,121,524 BOX WRAPPER Pierre Louis Victor Mount, 4 Rue de Monastir, Dijon, France Filed May 5, 1961, Ser. No. 108,175 Claims priority, application France May 9, 1960 6 Claims. (Cl. 22938) The present invention concerns a new prismaticshaped box wrapper. It also concerns, as a new industrial product, the sheet of starting material called a cutout comprising marking-lines and being trimmed-off to allow the final box to be assembled by folding. These marking-lines and trimmings are arranged in such a way that, after folding the cut-out sheet along the markinglines, the box is formed without either glue or tnacks.

More particularly, the present invention relates to the production of rectangular parallelepipedic-shaped boxes whose lateral surfaces, either inner or outer or both, contain printed, lithographic, or other matter, difi'ering from one surface to the other, starting from cut-outs marked out in such a way that they allow, in accordance with the way that they are folded, certain surfaces to be exposed to view in preference to others. Thus, starting from identical cut-outs, boxes can be assembled to show a different group of indicia on each set of lateral faces.

In accordance with the invention, the cut-out comprises a plurality of parallel markingdines defining a plurality of strip portions (which will subsequently constitute the lateral surfaces of the assembled box) whose number is at least equal to N +1 if the number of lateral surfaces of the box when assembled is to be equal to N.

The number of strip portions marked off on the cutout is preferably comprised between N +1 and 2N.

It will be easily understood that if the cut-out is folded along the marking-lines in such a way that these latter form the arrises of a prism whose base-s form a polygon having N sides, those strip portions of the cut-out in excess of N will be able to cover up certain lateral faces to allow only preselected matter appearing on the surfaces of certain of these strip portions to be exposed to view on the box thus formed, masking those strip portions which are covered. .By thus varying the covered and covering surfaces, the group of printed or other matter on the inner or outer lateral surfaces of any prismshlape for-med can differ from one box to another.

Certain strip portions of the cut-out are extended by foldable tabs judiciously placed to eventually form the bases of the desired prisms and ensure the closing of any box thus formed.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the following description given with reference to the accompanying drawings which relate to a box of rectangllar parallelepipedic shape, this shape being merely selected by way of example in order to illustrate the invention but without any intention of limiting the invention to this particular shape.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a cut-out designed in accordance with the invention.

' FIGURE 2 is a partial perspective view showing one way of folding the cut-out of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a similar view showing a second way of folding the cut-out of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a partial perspective view of a box assembled from the cut-out of FIGURE 1 but not yet completely closed.

FIGURE 1 illustrates a cut-out designated by the general reference 1. In the example under consideration this cut-out comprises five marking-lines designated by the genenal reference 10. These marking-lines delimit rectangular strip portions designated by the references A, B, C, D, E and F respectively. These strip portions are six in number. The cut-out 1 has, along one of its longer edges, a rectangular tab 7 extending strip A; a tab 6 extending the strip C and a tab 3 with a trapezoidal projection 9 extending the strip F. The tabs 3, 6 and 7 can be folded along the marking-lines 11. A markingline 12 between tab 3 and projection 9 indicates where the trapezoidal portion 9 can be folded with respect to tab 3.

On the opposite edge of the cut-out are tabs 2 (ex tended by trapezoid-a1 projection 8), 4 and 5 respectively extending strip portions ,A, D, and F. As for these tabs,

they may be folded along marking-lines 13 and the trapezoidal projection 8 of tab 2 can be folded along the marking-line 14.

The purposes of these different tabs will be explained further on in the course of this dwcription.

This cut-out 1 can be designed on and trimmed out of any appropriate foldable material such as cardboard for example. If it is adapted to form a rectangular parallelepiped-ic-sh-aped box, the strips A to F can be folded along the markings 10 in the manner illustrated in FIG- URE 2 by way of example. It can immediately be seen from this figure that the external surfaces of strip portions A and B are masked by the strip portions E and F which over-lie them respectively. If the external surfaces of the strip portions A and B in this example contain printed matter, such as inscriptions, directions, or any other distinctive or decorative feature, these will not be visible due to their being covered by the strips E and IF. When assembled, the box illustrated will only display that printed or other matter appearing on the external surfaces of the strip portions C, D, E and F On the other hand, if folding is carried out as illustrated in FIGURE 3, the printed or other matter provided on the external surfaces of strip portions E and P will be masked by the strip portions A and B and the group of matter figuring on the outside of such a box when assembled will be different from that which is shown by folding according to FIGURE 2, only the matter appearing on the external surfaces of strips C and D being common to both figures as they are not covered over in either. The cut-out 1 can, of course, be designed to have a greater number of strip portions so that, in accordance with the manner of folding, the strip portion C can itself be covered by a new strip, or this new strip could be covered by strip C. Only two methods of folding are illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3.

It is evident that the embodiments of FIGURES 2 and 3 can both be folded in a completely opposite manner in order that any inscriptions on the present inner surfaces of the boxes illustrated be brought to the outside and become the inscriptions on the outer surfaces of these boxes.

The same cut-out 1 can therefore be folded in four different ways to constitute four differently-presented boxes with respect to any constant inscriptions provided on the surfaces of the initial cut-outs.

A number of strip portions equal to 2N could as Well be provided on the cut-out. In this case one half of the total strip area could be covered over by the other half in any of four different ways as explained above.

It is also possible to design a cut-out in accordance with the invention having a greater number of strip portions than 2N for special purposes, some of which may be connected by perforated marking-lines for tear-off removal if desired, including tear-ofi tabs.

Referring to FIGURE 4, this figure illustrates an almost assembled box partially end-closed by judiciously located tabs extending certain of the strip portions of the cut-out. In this way, whatever be the manner of folding, the tabs 7 and 6 can be bent inwards with respect to the box along the markings 11 and the tab 3 can equally be bent inwards by folding along its marking 11; the portion 9 extending this tab 3 can, once folded inwards along its marking 12, be introduced into the box, for example along the inside of strip D to cover over the formerly-mentioned tabs 6 and 7. Proceeding in the same way for the corresponding tabs 2 and 8, and 4 and 5, the final assembled box con.-

tainer can be closed completely Without recourse having to be made at any stage to glue or tacks.

The box container formed in accordance with the invention can be used notably as a package for various products. The lateral surfaces can accordingly contain all the necessary indications or directions concerning the product together with any label, trademark, publicity in scription or other desirable matter.

In accordance with one advantageous embodiment the strip portions can bear the same indications but each portion being drafted in a different language. Then, according to the interntional market concerned, the dispatch or delivery plant for a product using a box according to the invention can fold the cut-out in such a Way that the desired surfaces are presented to the purchasers view. This particular embodiment is, of course, only given here by way of illustration of the usefulness of the invention, and to indicate its international versatility with only one form of embodiment of the initial cut-out.

Consequently, in accordance with the manner of folding the cut-out, and as the latter can bear inscriptions on both of the surfaces of the same strip, it is possible to realise many different presentations from identically manufactured cut-outs.

It is of course to be understood that the present invention has only been illustrated and described by Way of explanation without any intention of limitation and that any useful modification may be made therein within the scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A reversible blank forming a self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangular parallelepiped-type carton; said blank comprising a series of side-faces foldably interconnected at their side margins including: a first side-face, a second side-face, a third side-face, a second from last side-face, a next to last side-face, and a last side-face; said first side-face having one side margin foldably connected to said second side-face, the opposite side margin of which is foldably connected to said third sideface; said next to last side-face is foldably connected on one side margin to said second from last side-face and on the opposite side margin to said last side-face; said blank also comprising an exterior end-face formed integral with and foldably connected to said first side-face along a line substantially perpendicular to the foldable margin connection thereof to said second side-face; a

tuck-in flap integral with and foldably connected to said end-face at its margin which is opposite to its margin which is connected to said first side-face; a first locking flap integrally and foldably connected to said second from last side-face; a second locking flap integrally and foldably connected to said last side-face, said foldable connections between said locking flaps and said adjacent side faces being substantially in alignment with the foldable connection between said exterior end-face and said first side-face; said second side-face, third side-face, and next to last side-face each having a free margin substantially in alignment with the foldable connection between said exterior end-face and said first side-face, said blank ineluding closure flap means on the end of said blank opposite said end-face and lock flaps.

2. A reversible blank forming a self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangular parallelepiped-type carton in accordance with claim 1; said closure flap means comprising a second exterior end-face integrally and foldably connected to said last side-face along a margin opposite to the connection of said second locking flap thereto; a sec-ond tuck-in flap integrally and foldably connected to said second end-face at its margin which is opposite to its connection with said last sideface; a third locking flap integrally and foldably connected to said third side-face; a fourth locking flap foldably and integrally connected to said first side-face, said foldable connections between said third and fourth locking flaps and said third and first side-faces being substantially in alignment with the foldable connection between said second end-face and said last side-face; said next to last side-face, second from last side-face, and second sideface, each having a free margin substantially in alignment with the foldable connection between said second end-face and said last side-face.

3. A self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangnlar parallelepiped-type carton made from a blank in accordance with claim 1; wherein said first side-face overlaps said next to last side-face; and said second sidcface overlaps said last side-face; and wherein said first and second locking flaps are folded one over the other; and said tuck-in flap is tucked in between a free margin of said first and second locking flaps and the inner face of said third side-face.

4. A self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangular parallelepiped-type carton made from a blank in accordance with claim 1; wherein said first side-face overlies said next to last side-face; and said second sideface overlies said last side-face; and 'wherein said first and second locking flaps are folded one over the other; and said tuck-in flap is tucked in between a free margin of said first and second locking flaps and the inner face of a side-face.

5. A self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangular parallelepiped-type carton made from a blank in accordance with claim 1; wherein said second from last side-face overlaps said first side-face; and said last side-face overlaps said second side-face; and wherein said first and second locking flaps are folded one over the other and said tuck-in flap is tucked in between a free margin of said first and second locking flaps and the inner face of the third from last side-face.

6. A self-supporting and self-fastening closed end rectangular parallelepiped-type carton made from a blank in accordance with claim 1; wherein the fifth side face overlies said first side-face; and the sixth side-face overlies said second side-face; and wherein said first and second locking flaps are folded one over the other and said tuck-in flap is tucked in between a free margin of said first and second locking flaps and the inner face of a side face. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,502,606 Whelan July 22, 1924 1,662,100 Blum Mar. 13, 1928 1,943,074 Heyman Jan. 9, 1934 2,620,116 McDonough Dec. 2, 1952 2,643,811 Bolding June 30, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 2 4 G ea tai 9 

1. A REVERSIBLE BLANK FORMING A SELF-SUPPORTING AND SELF-FASTENING CLOSED END RECTANGULAR PARALLELEPIPED-TYPE CARTON; SAID BLANK COMPRISING A SERIES OF SIDE-FACES FOLDABLY INTERCONNECTED AT THEIR SIDE MARGINS INCLUDING: A FIRST SIDE-FACE, A SECOND SIDE-FACE, A THIRD SIDE-FACE, A SECOND FROM LAST SIDE-FACE, A NEXT TO LAST SIDE-FACE, AND A LAST SIDE-FACE; SAID FIRST SIDE-FACE HAVING ONE SIDE MARGIN FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND SIDE-FACE, THE OPPOSITE SIDE MARGIN OF WHICH IS FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID THIRD SIDEFACE; SAID NEXT TO LAST SIDE-FACE IS FOLDABLY CONNECTED ON ONE SIDE MARGIN TO SAID SECOND FROM LAST SIDE-FACE AND ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE MARGIN TO SAID LAST SIDE-FACE; SAID BLANK ALSO COMPRISING AN EXTERIOR END-FACE FORMED INTEGRAL WITH AND FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST SIDE-FACE ALONG A LINE SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE FOLDABLE MARGIN CONNECTION THEREOF TO SAID SECOND SIDE-FACE; A TUCK-IN FLAP INTEGRAL WITH AND FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID END-FACE AT ITS MARGIN WHICH IS OPPOSITE TO ITS MARGIN WHICH IS CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST SIDE-FACE; A FIRST LOCKING FLAP INTEGRALLY AND FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND FROM LAST SIDE-FACE; A SECOND LOCKING FLAP INTEGRALLY AND FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID LAST SIDE-FACE, SAID FOLDABLE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SAID LOCKING FLAPS AND SAID ADJACENT SIDE FACES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE FOLDABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID EXTERIOR END-FACE AND SAID FIRST SIDE-FACE; SAID SECOND SIDE-FACE, THIRD SIDE-FACE, AND NEXT TO LAST SIDE-FACE EACH HAVING A FREE MARGIN SUBSTANTIALLY IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE FOLDABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID EXTERIOR END-FACE AND SAID FIRST SIDE-FACE, SAID BLANK INCLUDING CLOSURE FLAP MEANS ON THE END OF SAID BLANK OPPOSITE SAID END-FACE AND LOCK FLAPS. 